What is Wealth?

Recently, at a seminar for real estate investors, the presenter said the most amazing thing: “You know how when you get into your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond, and you will probably get sick and probably have diseases? Well, because of the residual income it produces, real estate is a great way to make money if you are too sick to work.”

How outrageous is it to view getting older as an inevitable journey into the jaws of disease? Furthermore, what kind of wealth would have any value whatsoever if the person who has earned it is too ill to enjoy it?

Perhaps this quote by A. J. Reb Materi says it all: “So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” And on the same subject, John Maxwell, prolific author and founder of Injoy, referred to the chasing of wealth as sheer folly due to the fact that if we put all of our focus on the creation of wealth, to the detriment of preserving our good health, then in the later years we will find ourselves spending our hard-earned assets in a vain attempt to try to buy back our health. Hardly a winning formula.

Today I met with a client who pulled up to my office in an eye-catching, head-turning luxury sports car. As we sat down to discuss her health concerns it became apparent that she took far better care of her car than she did of her body. Unfortunately for her, her sports car was in great shape and her body was falling apart. Something was wrong with this picture. The car/body analogy worked beautifully for her: she bought into a pro-health disease-reversal program as smoothly as she maneuvered her sporty vehicle into a fast curve. Now we have someone who is going to be better positioned to enjoy her wealth with a healthy body over time. This will become one of her truly great investments. Investing in our health as a sustainable asset will return immeasurable dividends over time.

Marshall Thurber, who is a highly successful lawyer, real estate developer, businessman, educator, scholar, inventor and public speaker, was asked to define true wealth. His answer was to the point: “The first key piece is health. Take away health and you have no wealth. You have got to start with a sound body. We work pretty hard here in my office – but at night, we work even harder at our gym downstairs.”

I share Thurber’s passion for creating dual harmony in the arenas of optimal wealth and optimal health. This is why I have chosen to integrate my passion for health (through my health concierge practice) with my love for teaching the mechanics of wealth creation with a home based business (through my business coaching). It is a match made in heaven. This was my formula for a winning, lucrative, and values-driven career: support the people who are out of alignment with their health with viable resources for creating a body that serves them optimally through health maintenance and disease prevention. Use a reliable scientific approach and keep the bar raised. Assist people who are out of alignment with their finances to reinvent themselves in order to enjoy the abundance that is our birthright. Teaching wealthy people the true value of their health is among the most satisfying jobs I have ever created for myself in 36 years of health care.

On this subject, Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” The more people who pursue wealth by including investing in their health and longevity the better off we all are for having those models. It’s a paradigm shift, and the guy at the real estate lecture was missing the point. Epilogue: He now takes his hard-earned assets and invests them in the most valuable treasure he has ever owned: his physical body. His lecture has changed. The world has become a better place as a result of his choice to influence people to have wealth and health.

Copyright © 2007, Rosie Spiegel. All rights reserved.